ITP Camp 2025 logo - click to go to home page.

All Computing is Physical: Making the Cloud Transparent

Date: June 17, 2025 6-7pm


Session Leaders: Tom Igoe


Format: Hybrid (In-person with online access)


Tags: #physical computing #networks #data centers #energy #environment


One of the core principles of physical computing is that, just as humans have senses for input from the world and muscles for output to the world, computers have physical interfaces too: sensors for input, and actuators for output.

But when it comes to networked computing, we treat it as if it's invisible. We call it "the cloud", even, to hide its physical reality. The problem is, it's not. And, as recent times have been showing us, cloud computing and AI eat up a huge amount of resources. The energy and water they consume affects many communities far from the data centers themselves. We need to take into account the resources our cloud computing uses in order to make sensible decisions about it.

Lately I've been working on research and writing to help people understand that all computing is physical. This session is a first draft, of sorts. I'll share what I've got, in slides and conversation, and I'm eager to hear what you know on the topic as well, and what we can do to address the topic in a constructive way.

Here's a background story on the topic, and an interesting article on EnergyStar-like ratings for AI. And if you want to while away an afternoon reading, here are some more links on the topic.